I've been playing Tabletop RPGs for over five years years now, and I've finally decided to try DMing a game. For now it's basically a one-shot adventure, but I wouldn't mind continuing it if I can think up some more content. So far I've got a short little story planned, and four players in waiting: two veterans, and two newbies (one of whom might be a bit shy for roleplay).
I'm worried that I don't have enough planned in general, but my biggest concern right now is encounters. The story takes place in a small kingdom and is so far set up to be more roleplay/recon-heavy than combat-heavy until the "boss battle" at the very end. That being said, I want my fighters to be able to have fun all the way through the campaign...
Story details:
The story's setup is pretty basic--you arrive at the kingdom upon the suggestion of a benevolent lord who thinks you could be of use there, but doesn't want to involve himself directly in the politics of another land. Everything appears normal on the inside, but the people seem a bit jittery. When night falls, the Royally-enforced curfew comes to your attention, and you learn that this is the one weekend of the month when The Dragon comes down from the mountains... The players first instinct, I'd imagine, would be to hunt down the dragon and kill it, but the King has outlawed anyone so much as approaching the beast. He has been paying off farmers for their stolen sheep and damaged property, (or, alternately, has been buying livestock off of farmers with the express intention of appeasing the dragon) and he reasons that the kingdom is safe under the curfew law. However, some other strange laws and sanctions have been popping up in the magical community, angering the wizards at the university, and there are rumours going around about midnight kidnappings and opportunistic bandits. What you know for sure is that something is being hidden from the populace. From here, hopefully, the party will try to learn more, before inevitably confronting either the King (risking arrest vs. assistance) or the dragon (risking perhaps a bit more). The king's intentions are good if unwise, and the party will discover that someone else is behind this. If they do not face this person, he will most likely escape.
So essentially it'll go like this...
arrive in town -> Discover curfew -> Learn about dragon and related problems -> (stop bandits) -> Visit University(?) -> Sneak to tower -> Disable Sentry -> Encounter Dragon -> Boss.
or
arrive in town -> Discover curfew -> Learn about dragon and related problems -> (stop bandits) -> Visit University(?) -> Approach king -> plan ambush -> Boss.
In both scenarios, the combat is pretty condensed towards the end.--really onlt the final battle is necessary, so...
Do you have any advice for me? How can I balance combat and roleplay in a civilized setting while still keeping it all relevant to the players/story? I have a couple potential sidequests in mind, like dealing with the bandits, or investigating at the University, but all of these side-quests seem....avoidable. I'm worried my players will do just that and rush into the boss battle if I don't put up a few unavoidable hurdles for them to leap over--I'm just not sure where to put them. Basically I'm worried that the mystery is too shallow, that it'll all end too quickly, and that they won't find a lot of the content I was planning.
And a secondary question--this campaign starts at level 5, so I wanted to give the players a reward from their party's hypothetical previous adventures. What's an appropriate reward to get them caught up? I was thinking just gold, but maybe magic items/weapons might be better? I'm not terribly savvy with the 5e gold/items system yet.
First of all, the best light random encounter would be the mentioned bandits, although it could get stale fighting bandits everywhere. Your best bet now is to include things that could make sense in an urban area. Maybe some of the dragon's kobold slaves go after the party. Maybe some goblins are looking to settle in the area.
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For god's sake. Find a hobby or something. Sheesh. Please stop using this font.
How about the party running into a group of family farmers who are complaining loudly that the King hasn't paid them for their stolen sheep and damaged property and that they're ruined? They happily offer to show the party their farm which is coincidentally on the way to where the dragon lives. Only they're bandits (difficult perception check without some role playing to see if the party spots that the callouses on their hands are from swords and not farm implements, make it with advantage if the party talks with them long enough), the farm has been abandoned for a while (Perception to see if the party notices that it's a little bit too run down or not), and the farm isn't anywhere close to the dragon. They're ambushing the party and trying to steal their gold and equipment.
If they go straight for the dragon, have them run into a band of good aligned city guards big enough to challenge them if they decide to try to fight them. The moral implications that they'll have to go through good aligned city guards just doing their jobs in order to fight the dragon, together with the fact that the city guards will be a challenging fight, should chase them back into the city for the rest of your planned adventure.
A purely role playing encounter, have them run into a shopkeeper who makes non-magical herbal potions who offers them gold if they bring him a vial of the dragon's blood.
I'd give them any non-magical equipment that they want as long as they can carry it and I'd give them some limited use/single use magic items and one +1 weapon. I wouldn't go overboard, but I'd give each party member a potion or a scroll and I'd let them determine who will wield the magical weapon and also give the party as a group a couple of healing potions. But that's the most I'd give them, even for a one shot. If you decide that they need an additional magic item, give them a chance to acquire one in an encounter.
You had mentioned a lord buying off the dragon for ulterior reasons. What are the reasons? Is he hiding something the dragon wants or would want? Is some other entity controlling him and wants the dragon to stay away? Is the dragon blackmailing the lord? These could all be questions that lead to a greater plot intrigue as well as some encounters.
If an entity controls the lord, there could be a mix of the lord's guards and controller's minions. Beyond normal bandits, spin up some generic adventurers hired as assassins. Maybe the dragon has minions other than kobolds such as animals or, if it's a metallic dragon, a humanoid commune near its lair.
I find encounters are based on - and ultimately enhance - the campaign's settings. Keep asking yourself "why would they be here" and you'll never run out of encounters. Sometimes, you can fight bandits five times in a row under different contexts and it'll always feel fresh.
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Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
You had mentioned a lord buying off the dragon for ulterior reasons. What are the reasons? Is he hiding something the dragon wants or would want? Is some other entity controlling him and wants the dragon to stay away? Is the dragon blackmailing the lord? These could all be questions that lead to a greater plot intrigue as well as some encounters.
I went back in to my original post and edited it a bit...the king's intentions are good, just not very effective.
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"The beating sound is not my sympathetic heart, but a time bomb."
Hey everyone!
[EDITED]
I've been playing Tabletop RPGs for over five years years now, and I've finally decided to try DMing a game. For now it's basically a one-shot adventure, but I wouldn't mind continuing it if I can think up some more content. So far I've got a short little story planned, and four players in waiting: two veterans, and two newbies (one of whom might be a bit shy for roleplay).
I'm worried that I don't have enough planned in general, but my biggest concern right now is encounters. The story takes place in a small kingdom and is so far set up to be more roleplay/recon-heavy than combat-heavy until the "boss battle" at the very end. That being said, I want my fighters to be able to have fun all the way through the campaign...
Story details:
The story's setup is pretty basic--you arrive at the kingdom upon the suggestion of a benevolent lord who thinks you could be of use there, but doesn't want to involve himself directly in the politics of another land. Everything appears normal on the inside, but the people seem a bit jittery. When night falls, the Royally-enforced curfew comes to your attention, and you learn that this is the one weekend of the month when The Dragon comes down from the mountains...
The players first instinct, I'd imagine, would be to hunt down the dragon and kill it, but the King has outlawed anyone so much as approaching the beast. He has been paying off farmers for their stolen sheep and damaged property, (or, alternately, has been buying livestock off of farmers with the express intention of appeasing the dragon) and he reasons that the kingdom is safe under the curfew law. However, some other strange laws and sanctions have been popping up in the magical community, angering the wizards at the university, and there are rumours going around about midnight kidnappings and opportunistic bandits. What you know for sure is that something is being hidden from the populace.
From here, hopefully, the party will try to learn more, before inevitably confronting either the King (risking arrest vs. assistance) or the dragon (risking perhaps a bit more). The king's intentions are good if unwise, and the party will discover that someone else is behind this. If they do not face this person, he will most likely escape.
So essentially it'll go like this...
arrive in town -> Discover curfew -> Learn about dragon and related problems -> (stop bandits) -> Visit University(?) -> Sneak to tower -> Disable Sentry -> Encounter Dragon -> Boss.
or
arrive in town -> Discover curfew -> Learn about dragon and related problems -> (stop bandits) -> Visit University(?) -> Approach king -> plan ambush -> Boss.
In both scenarios, the combat is pretty condensed towards the end.--really onlt the final battle is necessary, so...
Do you have any advice for me? How can I balance combat and roleplay in a civilized setting while still keeping it all relevant to the players/story? I have a couple potential sidequests in mind, like dealing with the bandits, or investigating at the University, but all of these side-quests seem....avoidable. I'm worried my players will do just that and rush into the boss battle if I don't put up a few unavoidable hurdles for them to leap over--I'm just not sure where to put them. Basically I'm worried that the mystery is too shallow, that it'll all end too quickly, and that they won't find a lot of the content I was planning.
And a secondary question--this campaign starts at level 5, so I wanted to give the players a reward from their party's hypothetical previous adventures. What's an appropriate reward to get them caught up? I was thinking just gold, but maybe magic items/weapons might be better? I'm not terribly savvy with the 5e gold/items system yet.
(copy-pasted from Giantitp)
"The beating sound is not my sympathetic heart, but a time bomb."
♦Character art commissions♦
First of all, the best light random encounter would be the mentioned bandits, although it could get stale fighting bandits everywhere. Your best bet now is to include things that could make sense in an urban area. Maybe some of the dragon's kobold slaves go after the party. Maybe some goblins are looking to settle in the area.
The sewers could hold all kinds of creatures if you can find a way to get them under
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
How about the party running into a group of family farmers who are complaining loudly that the King hasn't paid them for their stolen sheep and damaged property and that they're ruined? They happily offer to show the party their farm which is coincidentally on the way to where the dragon lives. Only they're bandits (difficult perception check without some role playing to see if the party spots that the callouses on their hands are from swords and not farm implements, make it with advantage if the party talks with them long enough), the farm has been abandoned for a while (Perception to see if the party notices that it's a little bit too run down or not), and the farm isn't anywhere close to the dragon. They're ambushing the party and trying to steal their gold and equipment.
If they go straight for the dragon, have them run into a band of good aligned city guards big enough to challenge them if they decide to try to fight them. The moral implications that they'll have to go through good aligned city guards just doing their jobs in order to fight the dragon, together with the fact that the city guards will be a challenging fight, should chase them back into the city for the rest of your planned adventure.
A purely role playing encounter, have them run into a shopkeeper who makes non-magical herbal potions who offers them gold if they bring him a vial of the dragon's blood.
I'd give them any non-magical equipment that they want as long as they can carry it and I'd give them some limited use/single use magic items and one +1 weapon. I wouldn't go overboard, but I'd give each party member a potion or a scroll and I'd let them determine who will wield the magical weapon and also give the party as a group a couple of healing potions. But that's the most I'd give them, even for a one shot. If you decide that they need an additional magic item, give them a chance to acquire one in an encounter.
Professional computer geek
You had mentioned a lord buying off the dragon for ulterior reasons. What are the reasons? Is he hiding something the dragon wants or would want? Is some other entity controlling him and wants the dragon to stay away? Is the dragon blackmailing the lord? These could all be questions that lead to a greater plot intrigue as well as some encounters.
If an entity controls the lord, there could be a mix of the lord's guards and controller's minions. Beyond normal bandits, spin up some generic adventurers hired as assassins. Maybe the dragon has minions other than kobolds such as animals or, if it's a metallic dragon, a humanoid commune near its lair.
I find encounters are based on - and ultimately enhance - the campaign's settings. Keep asking yourself "why would they be here" and you'll never run out of encounters. Sometimes, you can fight bandits five times in a row under different contexts and it'll always feel fresh.
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"The beating sound is not my sympathetic heart, but a time bomb."
♦Character art commissions♦